Bentley

Bentley Motors Limited is a British based manufacturer of luxury automobiles and Grand Tourers. Bentley Motors was founded in England on January 18, 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley, known as W.O. Bentley or just "W.O." (1888–1971). more...

He was previously known for his successful range of rotary aero-engines in the First World War, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later versions of the Sopwith Camel. The company is currently owned by the Volkswagen Group.

Bentley as a separate company

A group of wealthy British automobile aficionados known as "the Bentley Boys" (Woolf Barnato, heir to a partnership in the Kimberly diamond mines, Sir Henry Birkin, George Duller, steeplechaser, Glen Kidston, aviator, Sammy Davis, automotive journalist, and Dr. Dudley Benjafield) kept the car's reputation for high performance alive. At one point, on a bet, Barnato raced a legendary car from Cannes to Calais, then by ferry to Dover and finally London, traveling on public highways with normal traffic, and won; the special-bodied 6.5 litre car became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Thanks to the dedication of this group to serious racing, the company, located at Cricklewood, north London, was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1927-1930. Their greatest competitor at the time, Bugatti, whose lightweight, elegant, but fragile creations contrasted with the Bentley's rugged reliability and durability, referred to them as "the world's fastest trucks". Perhaps the most iconic Bentley of the period is the 4.5 litre "Blower Bentley", with its distinctive supercharger projecting forward from the bottom of the grille. Uncharacteristically fragile for a Bentley, however, it was not the racing workhorse that the 6 litre Bentley was. It became famous in the popular media as the vehicle of James Bond in the original novels, but not in any film; rather, John Steed in the television series The Avengers did drive a Bentley on-screen.

A great deal of Barnato's fortune went to keeping Bentley afloat and he eventually became chairman; the Great Depression destroyed demand for the company's expensive products, and it was finally sold off to Rolls-Royce in 1931. It should be noted that Bentley was a very serious competitor to Rolls-Royce and that the 8 Litre Bentley was probably a better machine than anything Rolls-Royce at that time had to offer.

Early Bentleys

• 1921–1929 3 Litre
• 1926–1930 6½ Litre
  • 1928–1930 Speed Six
• 1926–1930 4½ Litre
  • 1928–1930 Blower
• 1930–1931 8 Litre
• 1931 4 Litre
• 1933–1937 3½ Litre
  • 1936–1939 4¼ Litre
• 1939–1941 Mark V
  • 1939 Corniche

Bentleys of the Rolls-Royce era

Rolls-Royce merged the Bentley line into its own, so that the Bentley marque became just a Rolls-Royce without the distinctive grill and with a $300 lower price tag. In the 1980s, however, Bentley became a separate, high performance car line once again. The most notable car in the Rolls-Royce period was probably the Bentley Continental, which appeared in various forms from 1952 to 1965, and again in 1992 with production ending in 2003. The Bentley factory in Crewe, Cheshire, is still known in the town by the name "Royce´s". For more on Bentley Motors from 1931 to 1998, see Rolls-Royce.

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